Unless otherwise stated, all images, content and recipes are original and are the sole property of Mary Foreman, DeepSouthDish.com. No photographs or other content may be used without prior written consent.

Privacy Disclosure

Any personal information you provide (e.g., name, email address, etc) will never be released to any entities outside Deep South Dish. As with most websites and blogs across the Internet, third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to websites.

Affiliate Disclaimer

Deep South Dish is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products at amazon.com. Your support is greatly appreciated - Thank You!

Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Picnic chicken, prepared similar to our classic, southern fried chicken, is lightly dusted in a highly seasoned flour then oven fried in butter and set aside to cool completely, before packing for the picnic.

Picnic Oven Fried Chicken

When you see recipes for oven fried chicken it's most often a low fat attempt to recreate deep fried chicken, often using cornflakes as a coating. This is not that.

When you see the term "picnic" fried chicken, it's generally referring to a fried chicken that has been prepped for skillet frying, but is done mostly, if not completely, in the oven. Left to cool, it's delicious at room temperature or straight from the fridge, making it the perfect picnic chicken. This is that.

Of course, like classic fried chicken, there are as many ways to make this one as there are folks to cook it. I've actually got a couple different recipes myself! Great for camping, a picnic on the beach, a take along for fishing, or just to eat for supper, it's a southern classic.

Sick of cold weather where you are? Why not throw a red and white checkered tablecloth on the floor, prepare some picnic chicken, make up some pasta salad, potato salad or coleslaw, maybe some marinated green beans, add some French bread and iced tea and have a picnic? Put on some beach music, build a fire in the fireplace and make S'mores for dessert. Summer breeze y'all!

Here's how to make that picnic chicken.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add 3 tablespoons of butter to a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan and place into oven to melt, about 10 minutes.

Rinse the chicken pieces and dredge them in the flour. I catch family packs of drumsticks on sale all the time so I usually have a few packages in the freezer, and they are my favorite piece of fried chicken, so that's what I used this time. These are rather large drumsticks too, so the time factors in about the same as a whole chicken, which is more typical. Other pieces work fine too, so just use your favorites or whatever you have on hand in your freezer. If you've got much smaller pieces of chicken, you'll need to make some adjustments in your cooking times.

Toss all of the chicken in the flour.

Set them all aside on a plate until you've floured them all.

Get the hot baking dish out of the oven and place the chicken into the buttered pan all together skin side up; turn to coat. Bake skin side down at 425 degrees F for 35 minutes.

Remove, turn skin side up and place back into the oven to bake another 20 to 25 minutes. Total time will be dependent on the size of the pieces.

Cook until chicken is completely cooked through and juices run clear when chicken is pierced.

Place a rack on top of some paper towels and transfer the chicken to the rack to cool completely before storing. Wrap chicken loosely in a clean sackcloth towel or paper towels then place into a large storage bag or container. Refrigerate if not using right away.

For more of my favorite fried chicken recipes, visit my page on Pinterest!

If you make this or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add butter to a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan and place into oven just long enough to melt. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour with the seasonings. Rinse the chicken pieces and dredge in the flour; place into the baking pan skin side up, and turn to coat. Bake skin side down at 425 degrees F for 35 minutes, turn and bake skin side up another 20 to 25 minutes, or until juices run clear and chicken is cooked through.

Total time will depend on the size of pieces you use, but the internal temperature should reach about 175 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh, 165 in the breast. Transfer to a rack to cool completely before storing. Wrap loosely in a clean sackcloth towel or paper towels then place into a large storage bag or container; refrigerate if not using right away.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

37 comments:

I make skillet fried chicken about once a year, I claim it to be my specialty. I've never made the oven versions because of the reason you stated. I see no reason to cut fat corners with such a classic dish. But I've got to give this one a try. I just watched the Movie "The Help", so I'm really craving some fried chicken. :)

I too have some frozen chicken legs so I yanked a bag out of the freezer and will give this recipe a try tonight. I've been craving some homemade potato salad too, so will make some of that to go with the chicken. Thanks for the idea Mary!

Just trying to clear up my confusion. From the sentence, "Get the hot baking dish out of the oven and place the chicken into the buttered pan all together skin side up; turn to coat. Bake skin side down at 425 degrees F for 35 minutes."

Do you mean for me to put the floured chicken in the buttered pan AND THEN roll it around in the pan so the entire chicken piece(s) are coated in melted butter? It's the "turn to coat" that leaves me confused.

Sorry Joe - didn't mean to make that confusing! Yes, what I meant is to wait to put all of the chicken in the pan skin side up after you flour it all, rather than a piece at a time as you flour it. Then just turn it over skin side down and bake the first round, turn skin side up and finish!

I am making this chicken as we speak and have a quick question. I couldn't tell after I floured it which was skin side up and skin side down. Will it matter in the end? It looks and smells amazing! Thanks!

Not really, especially if you're using only legs. Mostly it's just for looks on the pieces like breasts and thighs since that first skin side down browning looks nicer for presentation. Hope you enjoy the chicken - now I want some LOL!!

This really sounds good and I can remember my mother making this for family reunions! My question is about how long it is okay to keep it out before it spoils? Is it okay to take it straight to a picnic and not refrigerate it? I'm kinda paranoid about that and never really know, but don't want to get sick. Are there any "rules" or guidelines about this? Thanks!! Love your site and recipes!

Hey Laraine! You'd have to handle it like any other prepared foods & I'm not an expert on food safety for picnics, so I'd suggest hitting google for that! If you google "food safety, picnics" there is quite a lot of info & many of the pages are sponsored by state extension services & also government agencies. Hope that helps!

I have made this so many times and just had to come back and comment how much my family loves it. Course, we eat it hot right out of the oven for supper, rather than saving it for later. I also make it for company all the time and everyone always raves over it. It's a lot easier for me than frying in a skillet because I can get other things done in the kitchen while it bakes in the oven

I"m looking forward to try this version of oven fried chicken. It looks delicious. I LOVE my oven fried chicken using cornflakes ! I let soak in buttermilk, leave the skin on, season , roll in crumbs, place on a HOT baking pan , drizzle with butter, and bake. Deelish. I think the key to getting crispy oven fried chicken is to heat your baking pan first, then either spray or brush oil on it. Thanks for sharing.

Honestly, I'm a big fan of fried chicken. But I've never thought of frying it over the oven like the way you've done it. It looks yummy and simpler than deep frying it. I'm absolutely going to give this a go :)

Oh me too - wish I could eat fried chicken every day!! This is an old method that's been around longer than me I'm sure and it's really the only way that I enjoy leftover chicken. Fried chicken just loses something for me when it's refrigerated. This method works great for that though, which is how it earned its name of picnic fried chicken! I hope you give it a try & please let me know what you think Naomi!

Hi Anne! Sorry I'm late in responding but I wasn't on the computer for a bit. It depends on the size of them and how many, but I usually do 4 to 5 pounds of wings about an hour or so, turning a couple of times. Hope that helps!

This looks delicious, Mary! I'll be cooking for a big crowd in July when it will be probably pretty hot, and I'm thinking of fixing this the night before and serving it cold out of the fridge along with potato salad and other fixin's that can also be made ahead. Will the chicken be okay after 24 hours in the fridge? Thanks!

Sorry I missed this question earlier but yes, absolutely and in fact, this chicken is best for that very intention. I'm not a big fan of regular fried chicken that is leftover, but this method works great for intended"leftovers!"

Making this for dinner tonite, but I'll be using chicken thighs. I may have to use margarine because I do believe I'm out of butter. This is a very tasty recipe for drummies, so I'm praying it works just as well with thighs.

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I love hearing from readers and I read every single comment and try to respond to them right here on the site, so stop back by!

From time to time, anonymous restrictions and/or comment moderation may be activated due to comment spam. I also reserve the right to edit, delete or otherwise exercise total editorial discretion over any comments left on this blog. If your comment serves only to be snarky, mean-spirited or argumentative, it will be deleted. Please mind your manners.

Hey Y’all! Welcome to some good ole, down home southern cooking. Pull up a chair, grab some iced tea, and 'sit a bit' as we say down south. If this is your first time visiting Deep South Dish, you can sign up for FREE updates via EMAIL or RSS feed, or you can catch up with us on Facebook and Twitter too!

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients. ~Julia Child

The classic southern plate for supper is made up of meat and three, cornbread or rolls & a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

Oftentimes what makes a recipe southern, is as much a state of mind as it is a matter of geography - Southerners simply decide a particular food is southern, and that's that." ~Rick McDaniel, Food Historian

Material Disclosure: This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program,
an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from the provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

DISCLAIMER: This is a recipe site intended for entertainment. By using this site and these recipes you agree that you do so at your own risk, that you are completely responsible for any liability associated with the use of any recipes obtained from this site, and that you fully and completely release Mary Foreman and Deep South Dish LLC and all parties associated with either entity, from any liability whatsoever from your use of this site and these recipes.

ALL CONTENT PROTECTED UNDER THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT. CONTENT THEFT, EITHER PRINT OR ELECTRONIC, IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE. Recipes may be printed ONLY for personal use and may not be transmitted, distributed, reposted, or published elsewhere, in print or by any electronic means. Seek explicit permission before using any content on this site, including partial excerpts, all of which require attribution linking back to specific posts on this site. I have, and will continue to act, on all violations.